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willed · Feb 3, 2003, 09:22 AM

Hi, I know in this forum not that many will be on dial-up connections, and it seems that not many people at Apple are either - when I set prefs to connect automatically, my iBook tried to connect all the time, like at log in for some reason, and got really confused when I was away from a phone line (under OS 10.1 at least).

Right now I'm on Uni ethernet, but I was wondering if Apple had yet got up to MS's standards with this

Their internet connect / disconnect thing is much better than the method I've been using (the modem menuling to connect and disconnect). Apple's solution isn't very elegant. Am I doing something wrong? I just want it to connect when I open Safari / Mail and the option not to if I'm not plugged into a phone line.

Colonel Panic · Feb 3, 2003, 09:35 AM

Originally posted by willed:
Hi, I know in this forum not that many will be on dial-up connections, and it seems that not many people at Apple are either - when I set prefs to connect automatically, my iBook tried to connect all the time, like at log in for some reason, and got really confused when I was away from a phone line (under OS 10.1 at least).

Right now I'm on Uni ethernet, but I was wondering if Apple had yet got up to MS's standards with this Their internet connect / disconnect thing is much better than the method I've been using (the modem menuling to connect and disconnect). Apple's solution isn't very elegant. Am I doing something wrong? I just want it to connect when I open Safari / Mail and the option not to if I'm not plugged into a phone line.

I'm not sure this'll help but you can in your network Syatem pref change your systems order of preference, i.e. what kind of network to use first if available.
if you open "Network" and click on the "show" drop down menu and then select network port configurations you'll see the order. drag ethernet above modem and then if you have an ethernet connection dial-up won't try to connect. if you are off ethernet, internet connect will try and use the modem if you open safari or mail.

chabig · Feb 3, 2003, 10:02 AM

Also make you turn off all of the things that want to automatically check for updates over the internet...

1. Software Update
2. Quicktime
3. Date and Time (turn off the use of a network time server)

And how does Microsoft's solution work? I think manually connecting/disconnecting via the menu is pretty simple.

Chris

Atef's corpse · Feb 3, 2003, 10:18 AM

what they said and...

open System Prefs. Click Network. Show 'Internal Modem'. Click 'PPP' tab. Uncheck 'connect automatically when needed'.

willed · Feb 3, 2003, 10:39 AM

Originally posted by chabig:
Also make you turn off all of the things that want to automatically check for updates over the internet...

1. Software Update
2. Quicktime
3. Date and Time (turn off the use of a network time server)

And how does Microsoft's solution work? I think manually connecting/disconnecting via the menu is pretty simple.

Chris

The menu thing is pretty simple, but my Mum's going to be getting a Mac. I can just see her forgetting to disconnect, and getting a huge phone bill. Plus it takes more effort. On Windows, you open IE or Outlook and a dialogue comes up telling you the status of the connection, and the option to work offline. With OSX, if you select connect, and then open IE before the connection's up and running, you get a 'cannot find server' message, which isn't very elegant - it should know you're connecting.

willed · Feb 3, 2003, 10:40 AM

Oops. Double post.

Vanquish · Feb 3, 2003, 11:12 AM

I can just see her forgetting to disconnect, and getting a huge phone bill. Plus it takes more effort. On Windows, you open IE or Outlook and a dialogue comes up telling you the status of the connection, and the option to work offline. With OSX, if you select connect, and then open IE before the connection's up and running, you get a 'cannot find server' message, which isn't very elegant - it should know you're connecting.

Activate the automatic connecting. And activate the "disconnect after being idle for xx-minutes" (in the Network system prefsn under PPP-options.)

chabig · Feb 3, 2003, 12:00 PM

You can also put the Internet Connect application in her dock. And then teach her to use that to connect and disconnect. It's window will always tell her the status of the connection, which is nice for novice users. Just explain to her that to use the internet, you have to be "connected" to the internet. And then tell her to disconnect when she's done to avoid telephone charges.

Chris

Brass · Feb 3, 2003, 08:10 PM

Originally posted by chabig:
You can also put the Internet Connect application in her dock. And then teach her to use that to connect and disconnect. It's window will always tell her the status of the connection, which is nice for novice users. Just explain to her that to use the internet, you have to be "connected" to the internet. And then tell her to disconnect when she's done to avoid telephone charges.

Chris

I thought that the modem status menu item shows, quite clearly, what the connection status is and even how long you've been connected. It's always there, whether you're opening or closing something or not.

chabig · Feb 3, 2003, 10:28 PM

I thought that the modem status menu item shows, quite clearly, what the connection status is and even how long you've been connected. It's always there, whether you're opening or closing something or not

I agree with you 100%, it does. But I just thought that for a novice user, the application might be easier, simply because the menu extra is small.

Chris

nelliott · Feb 4, 2003, 07:03 AM

I want to know why it takes ages to disconnect from the internet on my mac, but windows can do it almost instantaneously.

Click disconnect -->

disconnecting...disconnecting...disconnecting...di sconnecting...
disconnecting...disconnecting...disconnecting...di sconnecting...
disconnecting...disconnecting...disconnecting...di sconnecting...
disconnecting...disconnecting...disconnecting...di sconnecting...
disconnecting...disconnecting...disconnecting...di sconnecting...
disconnecting...disconnecting...disconnecting...

disconnected.

chabig · Feb 4, 2003, 08:32 AM

I want to know why it takes ages to disconnect from the internet on my mac, but windows can do it almost instantaneously.

I suspect it's because the Mac is being honest with you about the state of the connection, and Windows just tells you it's disconnected before it actually is.

It's either that, or else the Mac closes the connection gracefully, and Windows just drops it--kind of like the way the Mac used to eject floppies, closing the files, etc, then popping it out, while on the PC you just hit the eject button to get the disk...screw the files.

Chris

fulmer · Feb 4, 2003, 01:27 PM

If I connect over dial-up with the white base station, it takes forever to disconnect. Using my tibook's internal modem is better. Right now I'm just connecting via my XP box--I fire up the PC's v.92 modem for a zippy 4.3 Kbps (quite good for my area)--and share the connection with my powerbook.

drmcnutt · Feb 4, 2003, 01:59 PM

Originally posted by chabig:
I suspect it's because the Mac is being honest with you about the state of the connection, and Windows just tells you it's disconnected before it actually is.

It's either that, or else the Mac closes the connection gracefully, and Windows just drops it--kind of like the way the Mac used to eject floppies, closing the files, etc, then popping it out, while on the PC you just hit the eject button to get the disk...screw the files.

Chris

Sorry that just sounds funny,

OSX isn't slow it's just being honest. OSX isn't slow, it's just more graceful.

Couldn't help it...it's funnier than the debug line for sure.

DRM